Happy New Year everyone! I hope 2016 brings you all health, happiness and love!
"Everybody fantasizes about other people." Erin Brady leant forward, her hypnotic gaze latching onto his baby blue eyes. "Even you, Mr Grissom. A neighbour, a friend ... girl at the office?"
Gil's eye twitched, a noticeable tell. Brass cleared his throat pointedly.
"Thank you, Mrs Brady." The detective smiled. "I think we have everything we need for now."
She grinned, satisfied that she had rattled at least one of the males. Unfortunately for her, she didn't get to enjoy the results of her mind games for too long, as Gil was on his feet and out of the door before the tape even stopped rolling.
In the corridor outside the interrogation rooms, and now armed with two steaming cups of tea, Grissom spotted Sara sat on the bench and approached her cautiously.
"Thank you," she mumbled absently, accepting the drink he offered and stirring it with a pensive expression.
When she continued to ignore his presence, he cleared his throat
"I know I'm supposed to be objective ..." She mused softly. "But I think I have a problem with the lifestyle."
Grissom cocked his head to the side and hummed.
"Well, they're consenting adults, it's not illegal. At most, they only hurt themselves."
"Tell that to Vanessa Keaton." Sara countered, taking her frustrations out on the teabag in her drink. "Everyone has a jealousy gene."
"You think it was a crime of passion?" Gil quirked an eyebrow, as if the idea hadn't even occurred to him.
"Yeah." She nodded, pursing her lips. "When you have to go outside a marriage for passion, you're in trouble. And you're asking for trouble."
Gil looked over to the Brady couple, embracing in the hallway. In another setting, they would have looked like any loved-up couple; loyal and utterly devoted to each other.
"Well, they say they're happily married."
Sara lifted her gaze, meeting his eye for the first time since he had sat down.
"You think they're happy?"
The question was almost rhetorical, but the look of unbridled sadness in her bottomless hazel orbs prevented him from being able to offer an answer anyway.
Grissom tried to ignore the footsteps falling in sync with his own as he entered his office and approached the desk, his book still open in his hands. However, the footsteps followed him, only coming to a stop on the other side of the table as he sank into his chair.
"I know that you got the memo, I'm not sure that you read it." Catherine began exasperatedly, and Grissom felt his stomach sink at the knowing realisation that he was about to be lectured. "Ecklie is being promoted to Assistant Director. They are taking applications for his supervisor spot on days. I want it."
Slowly, he placed his book down and folded his hands on top of it, but neglected to offer a verbal response.
"What?" Cath raised an eyebrow impatiently. "You want the day spot for yourself? You're worried about giving me a good A.P. score and breaking up the team? Or maybe you just think that I'm incapable of the position? Not worthy of the promotion? Is that it?" Rolling her eyes, she dropped into the chair opposite him and scoffed. "I'm just always, always defending myself to you. I'm unbelievable. I have a daughter who is so starved for my attention, she is thumbing rides to Fremont Street to see her grandfather – the last person I want her around. I mean, not that it's much better with my mother, who sees Lindsay much more often than I do."
Realising that things were getting too much for Catherine, Grissom opened his mouth to speak, but she continued before he could form a single word.
"I am missing out on my daughter's life. I have no life of my own. Would you just stop me and say something here?" She begged despondently.
Taking off his glasses and folding them carefully, before placing them on the desk, Gil sat forward and met her watery gaze.
"You want the job because you're worried about Lindsay?"
"That's part of it, but ..." Catherine trailed off, throwing her hands out. She'd had a whole speech planned out in her head but, as per usual, her mouth had taken over and now she couldn't think straight.
"The position calls for leadership, Catherine. You have to inspire others, solve problems, which means you have to leave your own problems at home."
"I want the job because I can do it. I'm qualified, I'm motivated and I'm ready, Gil. You know that I am."
"I do." He agreed. "Which is why I already sent in your A.P. I gave you 100%. I even put in a good word with the Director. The rest is up to you. And ... I hope you get it."
Not waiting for her thanks, or an apology, he slipped his glasses back on and pretended to resume his reading.
"Thank you." Catherine mumbled, attempting to dab at her eye without making it obvious that she was tearing up. When he didn't acknowledge her appreciation, she stood up and sloped back out feeling shamefaced.
Unseen by her, he lowered his book and watched her walk away with a sad sigh.
The truth was, he didn't want her to go. He needed her and the team would probably fall apart without her guiding hand. But he also wanted her to be successful, and he had no doubt that she was perfectly capable of running her own team.
She'd been running his for years.
"So," Greg shot her a look. "Have you ever been to one of these parties?"
Sara looked up and blinked.
"Me?" She asked. "Have I ever been to a swingers party? Are you kidding?"
"Well, you never know." He shrugged, his sweet smile dissolving her offended glower. "I mean, Harvard ... Berkley. I bet you've had some wild nights..."
A smile started to creep onto her face, but she fought it back by sinking her teeth into her lower lip.
"Maybe."
"Oh yeah?" He raised a playful eyebrow. "Care to share?"
"Not really."
"Well, variety is a good thing." He surmised when it became clear that she wasn't going to give anything up. "And if you get the right group of people together, a couple of drinks ..."
Sara laughed, shaking her head in amusement.
"If you're thinking about throwing a grave shift swingers party, strike me from the guest list please." She mocked. "There are certain people on our team that I don't need to see in that situation."
Not one to be beaten down, Greg smirked.
"If you'd prefer, I could strike Grissom from the list?"
She elected to ignore the comment, although she couldn't ignore the knot in her stomach tightening at the insinuation.
She knew that there were rumours floating around regarding herself and her socially inept boss. Some of them were true, most were not. But it was not those rumours she was worried about.
It was the ones that would undoubtedly appear once her relationship with Belinda became public knowledge. That's what really scared her. And if her recent argument with Bel was anything to go by, that day could be sooner rather than later.
"Catherine?"
Cath froze, wincing.
"Hi mom." She called back, sucking in a lungful of air in preparation for the impending rant.
Sure enough, Lily's head popped around the door frame and the older woman checked her watch pointedly.
"You're late."
"Yeah, I know." Catherine sighed, sloping past her mother into the lounge. "I got held up with paperwork."
"Paperwork." Lily laughed bitterly. "That's what was so urgent that you missed breakfast with your daughter?"
"Mom, don't..."
"Don't what?" Lily snapped before she could finish. "Don't point out the obvious – that you put work ahead of your own child?"
Catherine threw her head back and groaned weakly. She had hoped that her ever-present babysitter would be gone by the time she got home, so she could just curl up in bed and forget the last shift.
Unfortunately, it was not to be.
"Lindsey is the most important thing in my life, you know that." She insisted, squeezing her eyes tight closed against the headache starting to form in her temple.
"Then maybe you should start showing her that!" Lily countered. "Catherine, if your work is going to keep taking you away from her like this, then you need to do something about your scheduling..."
"For your information, I am doing something about it!" Cath snapped. "I've applied for a position on the dayshift team."
"You're changing teams?" Lily frowned, slightly taken aback by the outburst. "But you love your colleagues."
"Yeah, I do." She sighed, sinking onto the couch. "Of course I do, but Lindsey has to come first. And if I get the dayshift spot, I'll be able to work normal hours, and actually be here when she gets up on a morning."
"I see." Lily hummed thoughtfully. "And you think that making yourself unhappy is the way to fix things with your daughter?"
Catherine lifted her head and stared at her mother in dismay.
"What do you want from me, mom?" She begged. "I'm trying here, but even that's not enough for you is it?"
Lily held her pleading gaze with an unwavering stare of her own.
"I want you to do what's right for both of you, Cathy." She lectured gently. "There's something missing in your life, something that's making you sad. And until you work out what it is and how to get it, you'll just keep burying yourself in work. Changing shifts won't make a difference, unless you find a way to fill that hole in your life."
The assassination on her quality of life stunned Catherine into silence for a moment. Finally, she offered a weary shrug.
"Any suggestions, Yoda?"
"I can't answer that question, Catherine." Lily stooped down to pick up her handbag from the coffee table and hooked it over her shoulder. "Only you know what it is that you need to be happy."